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The Sox whittle away and bring one home May 23, 1989 ... Backed by Rob Murphy's sparkling 2 2/3 innings of shutout relief, the Sox rallied from a 4-0 deficit and hung a 6-5 defeat on the Seattle Mariners with Dwight Evans' run-scoring single in the ninth. The Sox were down, 4-0, by the second inning and Mariners starter Bill Swift had matters in control. Murphy arrived with the Mariner lead up to 5-2, thanks mostly to Jeffrey Leonard's first-inning three-run homer, and Sox starter John Dopson ushered to the showers by Omar Vizquel's leadoff triple. The lefthanded reliever promptly yielded a walk to Harold Reynolds, but then set down Henry Cotto (K), Darnell Coles (pop to third) and Leonard (K) to keep the three-run deficit frozen. So it did. In the bottom of the seventh, after Jim Rice led off with a walk, Nick Esasky sent a 1-0 pitch into the net to cut the lead to 5-4. Esasky, in fact, scored both of the Sox' previous runs, each time coming around after his singles. Murphy went back out in the eighth, now in a one-run game, and fanned Ken Griffey Jr. for starters. He gave up a single to Jim Presley, put Greg Briley away on a fly, and then fanned Dave Valle to end it. In the bottom of the eighth, Evans knocked in the tying run (5-5) with a double to right-center off Jerry Reed (3-3). In the ninth, Murphy started this time with a tie, got two quick outs, and then watched Cotto beat out a grounder to Jody Reed at short. Before a stunned crowd of 28,069, Morgan strolled out of the dugout and immediately signaled for Lee Smith to take over for Murphy. Smith (2-1) came in and retired Coles on two pitches. Not as easily done as said. Now it was Jerry Reed's turn to work with the tie. He was met with a deep Wade Boggs fly to left-center, right up against the 379-foot marker, that Griffey ran down with a Fred Lynn-like grab at the base of the wall. Marty Barrett followed with a meager pop and overtime was only one out away. However, Ellis Burks hit a double to right and Reed, not wanting to be beaten by Mike Greenwell's power, issued the Sox left fielder an intentional pass. Up came Evans, who teed off on Reed's first pitch and Burks easily motored around from second for the victory. On the verge of going three games under .500 for the first time since May 12 (2-5), the Sox instead were back in the good graces of the Fenway Faithful. In a little more than three hours, there was despair, the opportunity to marvel over Murphy and even the rare chance to put the boot to Joe Morgan. |
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